Sacrificing a main character is always a dramatically powerful place to go, but creators are often more hesitant than the audience to see beloved heroes perish. Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan really, really wanted Han Solo to bite the dust in "Return of the Jedi," but Lucas was having none of it. Tolkien could barely keep Gandalf dead for five minutes before he brought the wizard back more powerful than ever.

J.K. Rowling was no stranger to murdering central characters over the seven volumes of the "Harry Potter" canon, but even though fans came to expect at least one or two major deaths in each new installment it was unthinkable that she would take out her leading trio of Harry, Hermione, and Ron … right?

Well, technically, although in a new interview on the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" DVD (via The Guardian) she discusses pondering the unthinkable with actor Daniel Radcliffe, but it's not his head that was on the chopping block…

"Funnily enough, I planned from the start that none of them would die," Rowling tells Radcliffe. "Then midway through, which I think is a reflection of the fact that I wasn't in a very happy place, I started thinking I might polish one of them off. Out of sheer spite. 'There, now you definitely can't have him any more.' But I think in my absolute heart of heart of hearts, although I did seriously consider killing Ron, [I wouldn't have done it]."

"It's a real relief to be able to talk about it all," she added.

Now that we think about it, we remember how audiences reacted to Jack Dawson dying in "Titanic," and imagine Ron Weasley dying causing a thermonuclear tear explosion in theaters across the country. We might all have dodged a bullet there.